Chucks (again) in the hayfield.

[Badger]

Last year I had a Mauser Mark X action mated up with a .264 Winchester Magnum barrel. After 11months, the completed rifle arrive here with me. I had the dies, brass and bullets for serious load testing. The tests results are in and now we need some chucks. I bought my farm in 1988 and we had chucks back then. Since 2000, I have seen NO chucks.

As of July 5, 2010, we took 123 big round bales off the 20 acre hayfield. I was surprised to locate 7 active chuck holes in that field. Today, I saw 3 chucks in the big hayfield. I have decided to give the new (undocumented immigrants ?) a year respite and they will be fair game in 2011.

The .264 will come out of the vault for the 2010 deer season.

Badger

[Bushman]

Would you believe that woodchucks are a protected species in Wisconsin? I see a few around, but the only thing that I can figure is that the Midwestern forefathers were better shots than those east coast guys and we cleaned them out here before my generation got here. A .264 WM reads like lots of cartridge for a woodchuck. I'm not too sure that I'd like to shoot that from a prone position.

[Bill Gunn]

Around here the coyotes (and owls, and fox) get most of them while their young, along with the rabbits, before you can get to shoot them.

I can hardly remember the last woodchuck I shot, and we use to have tons of them (I have 4 dedicated woodchuck guns .22 mag, .222, 22-250imp, 6mm-ppc).
Their still around.... just thinned out a lot.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

We got "Cedar Choppers" and "Stump Jumpers" but no Woodchucks! You can set out a case of beer for bait and catch all you want of either one. You don't have to shoot them. After a while the just fall down by themselves.

Alan